Hyperelasticity of honeycomb wheel of TPU made by material extrusion additive manufacturing

This study analyzes the hyperelasticity of a new design of an airless honeycomb wheel of flexible thermoplastic polyurethane made by material extrusion additive manufacturing. Tensile and compression tests were carried out to specimens and honeycomb wheels, all made of TPU and by material extrusion additive manufacturing with a Gyroid Fill Pattern. The tensile tests showed hyperelastic behavior. The Mooney-Rivlin parameters of printed TPU were estimated through tensile tests and FEM simulations assuming isotropy and using inverse engineering and trial and error methods. The Honeycomb wheels were tested by compression and modeled as hyperelastic materials using Mooney-Rivlin parameters found from tensile testing. Hyperelastic simulation shows that the honeycomb wheel could withstand the radial compression loads that it may experience on the road. This study demonstrates that combining Material Extrusion Additive Manufacturing and simulations with the Mooney-Rivlin model offers a cost-effective, time-saving method to test the hyperelastic behavior of Honeycomb wheel prototypes as one sustainable mobility solution.